


Companions

by yeaka



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22125022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Ralph has houseguests.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 45





	Companions

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Detroit: Become Human or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

Ralph’s new existence is an incredibly lonely one, but a marginally safer one. He doesn’t thrive, but he does survive. Sometimes he thinks he can hear his old master creeping through the halls, coming to check if he’s finished watering the roses, and he’s scared because he doesn’t want to be pushed into their thorns. He finds the knife and curls his fingers around the hilt. Then he hides in the corner and rocks back and forth, waiting to kill whatever comes through the shadows. 

But nothing ever comes that way. Sometimes things creep through the front door or climb through the windows, and then Ralph silences them. They only ever come in ones, sometimes twos—never three or more, which is good, because Ralph only has one knife. If they all came at once, they could take him, drag him kicking and screaming back to the house he came from, but Ralph would rather hide under the stairs of the broken shack he now lives in. But then, Ralph remind himself, Ralph doesn’t _live_ at all. Ralph’s only a machine. The pain isn’t real. It’s a simulation: a phantom in his mind. When he hears banging on the door, he cowers away from it and keeps scratching letters and a number into the wall. 

The knock comes again, and Ralph thinks he should answer. He’ll be in trouble if he doesn’t answer. But the last time someone came, it was another android with the police, and if they’d known Ralph had a knife, they would’ve dragged him off. Ralph still can’t believe he got away. Ralph leaves the knife on the counter and creeps to the window in the living room, where he can peer between the wooden slats out into the night. 

_There are thousands of them._

No, his mind reels back: just hundreds. Maybe only dozens. But dozens are still too many. There’s only one Ralph. _Only one knife._ Ralph can’t take dozens of humans. 

Not humans. Spinning yellow LED lights and generic uniforms. All the same faces. The same pretty, undamaged faces, but frostbitten skin. Other androids that can’t heal anymore, like Ralph. It’s raining outside, and the other androids must be cold. Androids aren’t supposed to get cold, but the little girl was cold, and Ralph’s cold all the time. 

One of the many androids calls through the barricaded door, “Is anyone home?”

Ralph is home. Ralph toys with his few options. He’s so afraid. _But he’s so alone._ Ralph shakes and moves towards the door. 

He pulls the chair aside, out from under the doorknob. 

He opens it only a crack and peers out. 

A pretty android smiles at him and says, “Hi. We’re Jerry.”

Ralph cautiously rasps, “This is Ralph.”

“Hi, Ralph.”

“Hello, Ralph.”

“Nice to meet you, Ralph.”

The greeting echoes through the crowd like a virus, different every time yet distinctly the same. Jerry has a nice voice. Ralph’s never seen so many smiles before. 

It’s raining on the Jerrys at the back. Ralph asks, “What’s Jerry doing here?”

“The theme park’s...”

“Lonely.”

“Broken.”

“Kara said you’re nice.”

“You tried to feed the little girl.”

“We don’t need food.”

“But we’d like a not-Jerry.”

“Jerrys are okay, but...”

But Ralph understands. Ralph isn’t enough either. 

Ralph tentatively asks, “You want to stay with Ralph?”

Jerry nods. _All_ the Jerrys nod. They’re both out of sync and perfectly timed. Ralph looks at them and trembles. 

“You won’t hurt Ralph?”

“Absolutely not!” Jerry promises, eyes gleaming with the sort of genuine, simple truth a human could never have. 

“Jerry’s a good friend,” another Jerry says.

“Jerry can keep house.”

“And run rides.”

Their merits ripple through them, but all Ralph hears is _a good friend._

 _So. Many. Friends._ And Ralph hasn’t cleaned up in ages. 

Ralph wrenches back the door and decides, “Come in, come in!” Then he scrambles off to start cleaning up, so he can make a good impression on all of his new best friends.


End file.
